Sunday, May 01, 2016

Catholic Univ. Hits Staffer for Pro-Catholic Views

An alumni office employee of Loyola Marymount University (LMU), a Jesuit institution located near Los Angeles, California, espoused the Roman Catholic views concerning "sexual orientation" with Cosette Carleo, a student who claims to be "gender neutral." Carleo accused the employee of committing the hate crime of "denying transgenderism" so the University promptly suspended the employee.

“The University stands behind its statement of non-discrimination, which prohibits unwelcome, harassing conduct on the basis of several classifications, including gender identity and sexual orientation.”-- John Kiralla, Bias Incident Response Team (BIRT)

There apparently are two versions to the story of what occurred April 14 on the campus of Loyola Marymount University.

If the LMU Gender Sexuality Alliance’s story is to be believed, an LMU employee of the alumni office allegedly tore down and threw away LGBTQ+ Awareness Week posters, and accosted three LMU students, one of who self-identifies as gender neutral.

According to LMU’s GSA press release, the employee “aggressively confronted” the students who were attempting to rehang the posters and “replied hatefully” to them adding the employee was “denying the existence of transgender people” and that “heterosexuality is the only truth.”

Substantiating the employee’s claim that she’s the target of a smear campaign, an alumnus, Anthony Gonzales, overheard the entire incident and wrote a lengthy article in defense of the long-time LMU employee.

The other side of the story is vastly different from the one being told by Carleo, the GSA, and The Loyolan (campus newspaper) which published an article about the incident. . . .

Both the [Los Angeles Police Department] and the university’s Bias Incident Response Team are investigating the stated belief that only two genders exist, male and female, as a hate crime.

. . . Gonzales said the employee was “in the process of seeking legal counsel” to defend herself and hold LMU accountable for how she was “unfairly treated and summarily dismissed” before she could give her side. He did not immediately respond to a Facebook message from The Fix Tuesday night.

Though the Bias Incident Response Team told The Loyolan there were two investigations – the sign removal and the employee’s conversation with the students – Carleo admitted they have no evidence that the employee removed the signs.

Carleo told The Fix that while voices were raised in the conversation, there was no actual yelling, and witnesses who considered intervening saw that “there was no danger.”

Three student workers from the LGBT Student Services office were engaged in a verbal altercation with an LMU employee from the Alumni Relations office between 9 a.m and 12 p.m. on Palm Walk near the Von der Ahe building on Thursday, April 14, according to a Gender-Sexuality Alliance press release.

Senior biology major Catalina Ibarra and senior business majors Kaii Blanton and Cosette Carleo noticed that signs put up for Rainbow Week, or LGBTQ+ Awareness Week, by LGBT Student Services (LGBTSS) had been removed and placed behind a garbage can, according to Carleo.

As Blaton, Carleo and Ibarra attempted to replace the signs, an employee from the Alumni Relations office, whose name has not yet been made available to the public, allegedly approached the students about LGBTQ+ issues and voiced opinions on differing sexualities, expressing that anti-LGBTQ+ signs should be put up in place of the students’ signs. The employee also referred to one of the students as a man, even though that student had informed the employee that they identify as gender neutral, according to Carleo.

[Excerpts from an April 16 email forwarded to California Catholic Daily from the husband of the subject employee:]

At the time [of the incident] my wife was talking to alum [Gonzales], who thankfully heard the entire exchange. After determining they had permission to post the signs, the group engaged in a what my wife thought was a very good dialogue of ideas and opinions. The girls were posting signs promoting the various sexual activities and orientations of the LGBTQ. My wife is Catholic and a strong supporter of the Church, marriage and family, and Catholic morality. Of particular focus was the girls promotion of what they label “PanSexual” i.e. someone who participates (or prefers) every kind of sexual encounter. One of the girls identified herself as lesbian and accused my wife of not loving women. My wife pointed out she was called to love everyone, including the girls. She said she found the whole sexual labeling thing was causing confusion especially in the youth whose sexuality is still malleable. The girls agreed with my wife that they too disagreed with the ideas behind Pan-sexuality, claiming they wanted monogamy, but wanted to give it a label so people could identify themselves. My wife pointed out that this was promotion of these lifestyles not just labeling and this was offensive to her heart. It was lovingly expression of disagreement, and a legitimate exchange of ideas and reasons, with my wife defending the Truths of the Church, and listening with love to these girls ideas.

. . . Everyone thanked the other upon leaving, the girls thanking my wife for her opinions and “appreciated the dialogue’. My wife agreed.

. . . My wife was informed this morning that she is suspended from her job of 15 years pending an investigation of this “incident”. No one got her side of the story. In addition there was an alumni witness who verified her accounts of the conversation. No one has spoken to him either.

. . . No-one from the University talked to my wife before the Loyolan article was written, or before she was suspended and sent home. My wife, when she read the article, immediately went to her supervisor to protest the accuracy of the article. Her supervisor refused to talk to her and simply sent her home to let HR investigate.

Clearly my wife has been defamed by the Loyolan, and by lack of supervision, the University itself. The University is responsible for this hateful twist of the truth and allowing these lies to be published without getting the other side. If the girls involved really concocted this lie they too are guilty of libel and slander. We are a Catholic Family and hold true to the faith expressed by Christ. But now, being a loving Catholic called to care for others is a Hate crime at LMU, ironically at so called Catholic University.

Unlike the school's student-run Gay Straight Alliance club, the [new LGBT office] will supply professional staff to minister to LGBT students, following in the footsteps of Georgetown University and Gonzaga University. Dr. Lane Bove, senior vice president for Student Affairs, described the office's role as promoting "equality, visibility and inclusion of LGBT students within the LMU community" as well as "advocacy and support for the LGBT student community" and engaging "regular dialogues about the intersection of sexual orientation and gender identity with issues of faith, religion and culture.”

At the Web site of LMU's Intercultural Affairs/Sexual and Gender Identity Office, the school states a commitment to "developing socially responsible men and women" who will "learn to value the unique qualities of diverse cultures." Notably, the graphic for the office's site includes a photograph of a young woman holding a sign protesting Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment in California establishing the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles did not return a request for comment.